How to ResistEpiphany 7 (Revised Common Lectionary)Matthew 5.38-48

Grandma Maud had a proverbial saying for every occasion. ‘A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.’ ‘Don’t count your chickens until they’re hatched.’ And there were many more. As a young child some I understood, and most I didn’t! When passages from the Bible have come to be proverbial - well that’s a whole new kettle of fish! ‘Turn the other cheek,’ it’s said, but what does it mean? We heard where the phrase comes from in our Gospel reading: ‘You have heard that it was said,“An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.” But I say to you, do not resist an evildoer. But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also.’ And Jesus continues: ‘If anyone wants to sue you and take your coat, give your cloak as well. And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go also the second mile. The other cheek; giving more than demanded; and the second mile. There’s a common theme here, but it perhaps not as obvious as we think it is. Does ‘do not resist an evildoer’ mean to let a person of malice run all over you? Does it mean abandoning all thoughts of justice and letting yourself be clobbered? And what about that extra mile? That’s become something of a platitude: extend yourself, do more than is required of you. Thinking about it in that way we make the expression fit with the coat and cloak injunction: don’t just give what’s demanded but give all. We fail to give proper weight to the compulsion involved in both sayings. The first is about being sued, and the second about the forced labour the occupying army demanded of those conquered: ‘Carry my pack for me,’ but not for one mile but two. Where’s justice; where’s compassion; and where’s fairness in that? Should those who take these sayings seriously simply let themselves be trodden all over? Is this what Jesus means? I can’t believe so. The Jesus I see in the Gospel resisted evil at every opportunity. That his advice to faithful people should be let yourselves be battered and abused makes no sense to me at all. Our proverbial use of these phrases does not speak to me of the Jesus I see portrayed by Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Again we too easily let commonplace understandings obscure what Jesussaid. The New Testament scholar Walter Wink has helped me recover a better way of understanding these sayings of Jesus. Wink points out that the problem begins with the expression ‘do not resist.’ In the Greek in which the Gospels were written the word is antistenai. The ‘anti’ part needs no explanation: we’re very clear what it means to be ‘anti’ in English. The second part of the word - stenai - means to stand. So literally the word means ‘stand against.’ To my mind that’s rather stronger than the ‘resist’ of the translation we used for the Gospel. As Wink explains, in the Jewish Bible the word is often used for warfare. To ‘stand against’refers to the marching of the two armies up against each other until they actually collide with one another and the fighting starts. I guess that’s what we would generally call ‘taking a stand,’ meaning to keep on fighting, not to give in, and not to retreat. The image is one of staying with it to the bitter end. When Jesus says, ‘Do not resist an evildoer,’ that is rather more than simply resisting. Surely Jesus is saying that we must not resist evil on its own terms? In other words, don’t let your opponent determine the character and content of your opposition. As Wink puts it, ‘if I have a hoe and my opponent has a rifle, I am obviously going to have to get a rifle in order to fight on equal terms, but then my opponent gets a machine gun, so I have to get a machine gun.’ A spiral of violence is created that is unending. A spiral that is all too obvious in too many places around our world. With these words in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus works to break that spiral of violence. ‘Don't resist an evildoer’ should therefore be read as something like ‘don't turn into the very thing you hate.’ Perhaps the earliest version we have of this teaching is Paul to the Romans 12.17 – ‘Do not return evil for evil.’ The three examples Jesus gives work to support this understanding of what he means by not returning evil for evil: First, there’s the one about being hit on the right cheek and then offering the left cheek to your assailant. A punch on the right seems easy enough to understand, but wait a minute, think about the physics and direction of it. Hitting the right cheek is only possible with a left hook – a manoeuvre that’s very unlikely in a society where the left hand is used for what’s unclean. No, what’s being suggested here is a back of the hand slap – the kind of humiliating blow that puts a slave, a woman, or child in its place. This is the powerful exerting authority over the weak or despised. But if you deliberately turn your face to the right, the backhand blow is no longer possible. Now the expression of Jesus becomes an instruction to resist. As Wink puts it, ‘By turning the other cheek, you are defiantly saying to the master, "I refuse to be humiliated by you any longer. I am a human being just like you. I am a child of God. You can't put me down even if you have me killed."’ Second, says Jesus, ‘If anyone takes you to court or your outer garment, give over your undergarment as well.’ The situation being used here is security for a loan. Normally, of course, that would be in the form of land or animals, but for the poorest of the poor, according to Deuteronomy 24.10-13, it could be an outer garment. This is the long robe used to sleep in at night and used as an overcoat during the day. The creditor had to return this garment at night but could claim it back every morning. This continued harassment was meant to encourage the debtor to pay up. In the exploitative, hand to mouth existence of landless peasants such debt was common enough. Many of those hearing Jesus’words knew the circumstance firsthand, and knew that people like them never won in a law court. So Jesus says in effect, ‘You’re not going to win, so make plain just how absurd and unjust this law is. Take off the little that you have left, and stand there naked in court.’ Jesus is really pushing it. To be naked was absolutely taboo in the society of his day – as it had been for many generations. And the shame of nakedness wasn’t only about the naked person but also all who look on that nakedness. The degradation and dishonour touched all who were in anyway involved, even if it was only a glance. The creditor is shamed by the nakedness of the debtor. And the shame spreads as the debtor’s nakedness is seen by acquaintances, neighbours, and strangers passing by. In this circumstance creditors aren’t going to be rushing to take others to court! There’s a resistance and courage here that won’t be cowed by an unjust system that gives all the advantages to the powerful. And the third example – the carrying of a soldier’s pack an extra mile – is drawn from the experience of living under an occupying army. So that troops could move quickly their regulations allowed them to force a civilian to carry their military kit-bag, but only for a mile (Roman roads had mile-posts). Military regulations were enforced strictly, so taking the pack an extra mile put the soldier in a difficult position. What was he do in the face of this unwarranted action? It is now the soldier who has broken the military code and likely to face the severe judgement of his centurion. The initiative has been taken away from the oppressor. Mahatma Gandhi once said, ‘Everyone in the world knows that Jesus and His teaching is non-violent, except Christians.’ ‘Do not resist the evildoer – never return evil for evil,’ – this isn’t about being prone and submissive in the face of wrong, harm and violence. Far from it, Jesus is asking of his followers a radical refusal to conspire in evil’s ways in the world. Resist, but in ways that don’t injure or harm others. Resist in ways that show up abuse for what it is. Resist in ways that pour scorn on corruption. Don’t resist in ways that make the spiral of violence and hate inevitable. Rather resist in ways that disclose abuses’ absurdities and evil’s corruption. ‘Do not resist the evildoer, returning evil for evil,’ but do resist in ways that make Godly justice and care evident.Acknowledgement:This interpretation is wholly drawn from Walter Wink, Engaging the Powers: Discernment and Resistance in a World of Domination, (1992), Fortress Press, Minneapolis.